novelraw Chapter 177
Chapter 177
Following Suo'etu's narration, Yinfeng's expression gradually changed.
Suo'etu: "The northwest of the Longxing River is a place of severe cold. For our soldiers, it is difficult to fight. Going to attack the city of Yaksa, the battle line is too long, and support is difficult to reach."
Suo'etu said again: "The border generals of the Qing Dynasty gathered the border people of Longxingjiang City and stationed troops in Aihui to store up food. They prepared for several months and contacted the Buryat Mongols who were enslaved by the Tsarist Russian rule near Lake Baikal. On the top, there was a siege from east to west, the front was attacked by the Qing troops, and the rebellious Buryat Mongols joined the local herdsmen in the rear to burn down the supply line of Tsarist Russia."
"The fortress of the city of Yaksa was built with ice and stones. It was difficult for the red cannons to blast away. At the beginning of the attack, the enemy huddled in the fortress and resisted tenaciously. They could not be captured for a long time. If the stalemate continued, they would die The supply of Qing troops was not good, so the frontier army withdrew and replaced it with newly purchased cannons. The cannons sold by the British East India Company to Qing were more powerful than Qing’s red cannons, and they could easily blast through fortresses.”
Yinfeng couldn't believe it: "The Qing Dynasty sent nearly 3000 people, using warships, cannons, and shotguns. They marched together by water and land to attack the city of Yaksa. It took so long. How many people were captured? 450 people in the army?"
Suo'etu: "..."
"In an extremely cold place, the soldiers are limited in combat. The city of Yaksa is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Only when there is a huge difference in numbers can they attack it. It was General Sabsu who was able to capture the city of Yaksa so quickly. The supplies near the city were all destroyed, and the enemy general Tolbuzin in the city of Yaksa had no one to rescue him and was forced to surrender."
"After the surrender, has the enemy leader been captured?"
Suo'etu was embarrassed by Yinfeng's question: "Peng Chun, the frontier general at the time, ordered the enemy's leader to leave Yaksa."
Yinfeng asked with a question mark on his face: "Let... let go?"
Suo'etu coughed lightly: "Because the under-nosed Junggar tribe will threaten the Qing Dynasty at any time, the emperor wants to resolve the border issue with Tsarist Russia in a 'peaceful' way as soon as possible. Leaving the border of the Qing Dynasty, there is still room for discussion between the two countries."
"We won the battle, but let people go, what's all this?!" Yinfeng raised his voice, which startled Suo'etu.
"His Royal Highness, it is inappropriate for the Qing Dynasty to confront Tsarist Russia head-on. If there is a real fight, Junggar, which is about to dominate the Western Regions, will move eastward at any time and approach the capital. Compared with the enemy under the nose, the enemy in the north is far away from us. It is a large piece of barren, barren, and extremely cold land, where there are snow-capped mountains, and it is difficult for ordinary people to live there. The city of Yaksa has been destroyed. After the army withdrew, some troops were left to garrison Aihui, and the rest followed. I transported the cannon back to the capital together."
Yinfeng was silent for a long time, but in the end he couldn't control his temper, and hammered the table with his paws, hating that the iron could not be made into steel: "I have already attacked Yaksa, and instead of sending troops to garrison, I will withdraw everyone. So Yaksa is still a land of no man, without an army there, the enemy may come back at any time! It is difficult to survive in the cold land? The enemy army can survive in the fortress, but our army can't do it?! Soldiers Going to the border is tiring, so we should give care to their relatives, increase food, clothing, and military pay. With so much money, is there no one willing to garrison the border?"
"The enemy has been driven away by the frontier army," Suo'etu said with a dumbfounded smile, "rebuilding the city of Yaksa is costly, and the gains outweigh the losses. Instead of spending a lot of effort to control the bitter cold land, it is better to withdraw people and make every effort to consolidate the border of the Qing Dynasty. defense."
"Doing this is equivalent to making the outside of Longxingjiang City an unoccupied land, which is convenient for the enemy to take at any time. If there is an opening to take advantage of, the border of the Qing Dynasty will be approached to the south and further eroded by the enemy. This is like the south of the Qing Dynasty. Just like China's maritime sovereignty, if you give up your sovereignty, don't blame others for bullying you, oh, I'm so pissed off!"
Yinfeng listened, the fruit in his hand was no longer sweet, his mouth tasted chewy, and he was no longer in the good mood to eat fruit and listen to stories.
"It is extremely difficult to garrison Yaksa City and manage the northern border."
"Even if it's difficult, that's something we have to start doing now. I'm going to remind Khan Ama right now."
Suo'etu shook his head: "His Royal Highness, don't be impatient, and please listen to my words."
Yinfeng sat down, twisting his butt on the stool restlessly, finally An resisted the urge to go to Khan Ama immediately, and said angrily, "Third Grandpa, please tell me."
"What the general has to weigh in governing the border is how much he has to pay and how much he can gain. The border people of the Qing Dynasty are small and mixed with different ethnic groups. This is one of the difficulties. The front line to the city of Yaksa is too long, and the local climate is very cold. It is not suitable for stationing troops and food If you can’t grow food, you can only rely on Longxingjiang City to transport food there. This is the second difficulty. Most of the city of Yaksa was destroyed by the war and it is not suitable for people to live in. This is the third difficulty.”
"In addition, he has to figure out what the emperor is thinking. Is the emperor willing to fully support him to continue the attack? Fighting consumes manpower, money, food and grass. Can the Qing Dynasty afford it? The enemy sent 450 people to garrison Yaksa, and the regular army Located in the center of Irkutsk, the Qing Dynasty did not know about Tsarist Russia, the size of its troops, and what their country looked like on the other side of the mountain. They lived in a place of bitter cold and were born in ice and snow. The barbarians in the north, they are more wild than our ancestors, killing. Judging from the world map in the emperor's study room, the land of Tsarist Russia is not inferior to the Qing Dynasty, but more than half of their country is located in cold regions .We don’t know them well, so we dare not act rashly.”
"Besides, that piece of barren and barren land is neither suitable for growing food, nor suitable for grazing. It is understandable to withdraw the troops back."
Yinfeng said loudly: "Who said that the land is barren and barren? There are rich mineral deposits under that land, including gold, silver, steel, and countless rich resources that we have never discovered. Even if there are no people living there, everyone The Qing army must also surround that side, and they must not be reduced to a land of no owner, and will eventually be taken away by the enemy country that takes advantage of the vacancy!"
It was rare for the prince to speak loudly excitedly, which confused Suo'etu: "Is there gold underneath?"
Yinfeng was heartbroken: "There are things more precious than gold!"
He also can't say that the third grandfather is short-sighted and confused, because the border generals and even the courtiers may have the same idea as the third grandfather.Although Ming Xiang always disagrees with the third grandfather in everything, he has the same attitude as the third grandfather on the issue of the northern border of the Qing Dynasty.
As for Khan Ama...
Yinfeng felt a little guilty when he remembered that he had created a mess and let Khan Ama take the blame.Hey, since the eradication of the bureaucracy began, Khan Ama only slept for two hours a day at the beginning, and then three hours a day, and there was no time to recruit concubines. Husband and stone are looking forward to Khan Ama, and the concubines are so lonely that they play mahjong every day.
The courtiers all said that Khan Ama was determined to forge ahead, and in order to eliminate the bureaucracy, he did not hesitate to "use" the young prince...
Suo'etu: "Are these also taught to His Highness by the immortal?"
"Gu has never been to the city of Yaksa, of course Xiaomei showed Gu to see it."
This "Xiaomei", Suo'etu couldn't hear it, he couldn't hear it, so he went to look at the shape of Yinfeng's mouth, and found that he couldn't remember what His Royal Highness's mouth shape said.
Suo'etu's heart trembled: Could it be that the name of an immortal should not be mentioned? !
He tentatively asked: "Did the immortal tell His Highness to send troops to garrison the city of Yaksa, otherwise the enemy will come back?"
Yinfeng shook his head: "It didn't say it, but it told Gu how much it would lose if Qing gave up that piece of land, and how much it would cause future generations to lose."
Suo'etu pondered for a moment, and assured Yinfeng: "This matter, I will ask the emperor to play it, and please don't make any noise. My minister has been in charge of border affairs for a long time, and it is more meaningful than your empty words. But His Highness also needs to understand that the emperor is also weighing investment and expenditure, analyzing the pros and cons of war and truce before making a plan. If Tsarist Russia can settle down, in terms of long-term interests, establishing a commercial relationship with it is better than going to war between the two countries. It is more beneficial for the Qing Dynasty to fight against each other. If the two countries continue to fight, it will consume national strength. The Qing Dynasty cannot visit the snow-capped mountains and send a large army to attack Tsarist Russia. They cannot send troops to attack us. In the end, the loss between our two countries, While other countries stand on the sidelines and take advantage of this, the loss outweighs the gain.”
"Okay, Nagu won't talk to Khan Ama about this for now."
Yinfeng felt that what the third grandpa said made sense, and it was reliable to leave this matter to the third grandpa!
"Thank you, Your Highness, for your kindness and compassion."
Suo'etu breathed a sigh of relief quietly, sweating for his negligence after the war.
At first, like Peng Chun, he advocated "peace is the most important thing" and pursued the principle of being a benevolent and righteous teacher of "the enemy retreats, and I will not attack".Now, looking at His Highness's attitude, it was actually the main battle. Suo'etu, who had always been walking with Yinfeng, realized that he had gone the wrong way. He stopped immediately and thought of a way to make up for it.
For the main battle, it is better for him to speak out about sending troops to garrison the city of Yaksa.
Today, Suo'etu was planning to teach the prince what "strategy" is, how to "advance through retreat" and "look at the overall situation", but in the end this accident happened.
As for His Royal Highness, he is not satisfied with the victory in the battle of Yaksa this time.
After Yinreng bid farewell to Suo'etu, he did not go to the household department, but went to find Kangxi: "Khan Ama, I want to go to the research institute to see how far the firearms battalion and the research institute have come together. .”
"Why do you suddenly have an interest in firearms? Didn't I ask you to go to the household department to learn financial management?"
"Khan Ama threw this son to the Ministry of Households to let him study hard and stop being prodigal. The son has listened to it, and he already knows that he has done something wrong. Now he is reflecting on it! My math is good. Yes, I didn’t slack off when I was studying. It’s just that I heard Suo Xiang mention the Battle of Yaksa today and learned that our red cannons can’t blast the enemy’s fortress, so I want to pay attention to the research progress of new firearms.”
Kangxi didn't raise his head, and started to write quickly: "This matter has been handed over to Dai Zi. I ordered him to be the supervisor of the 'Firearms Research Institute', and transferred to the research and improvement of firearms. All the research institutes are heavily guarded, remember to bring tokens , ask Gao Shiqi and Xinyu to send someone to pick you up in the rubber-wheeled carriage you sent, if you want to go, I will not stop you, but you must return to the palace within half a day."
Yinfeng hurriedly nodded and assured: "Don't worry, Ama Khan, I will definitely come back on time."
Looking at the research institute and the firearms battalion, there are several dismantled cannons piled up in sevens and eights. After the sea ban was lifted, the Qing Dynasty spent money and asked various countries to buy various artillery and shotguns. Among them, Portuguese ships are the most advanced. And England's artillery is the most powerful.
In terms of shotguns, the most famous one is the Dutch shotgun. The Firearms Battalion and the Research Institute cooperated in the research of firearms and established a courtyard called "Firearms Research Institute". He can dismantle a Dutch fowling gun, a Portuguese cannon, and in ten days produce an identical one.
Yinfeng came quietly. The carriage came in from the back door of the research institute without disturbing anyone. Xinyu and Luan Yiwei were by his side. When Suo'etu heard that he was leaving the palace, he felt worried and followed him.
In this way, when we arrived at the "Firearms Research Institute", we saw a few people wearing civilian costumes working among them, and there were guards from the Imperial Forest Army outside the "Firearms Research Institute". legal guarantee.
The Fabao man was as tall as a gorilla, with a burly body and a big beard, just like the black-faced "Zhang Fei" in the folk impression, he was a general at a glance.
Suo'etu went up to talk to Fabao, the general opened his mouth and called Suo'etu "third brother!"
Yinfeng was stunned, raised his head, and looked at it as if he was looking up at the big tree in the sky. Standing under the shadow of Fabao, he felt like a little monkey standing under an elephant, so insignificant.
Suo'etu also introduced it to Yinfeng and said: "Your Highness, this is Fabao, the fifth younger brother of Weichen. He is good at riding and shooting, and is good at wielding knives and guns. Tell him to do it."
All of a sudden, the third grandfather, the fourth grandfather and the fifth grandfather, these three men from the natal grandfather's generation, were all recognized by Yinfeng.